Matthew 28:2-3

28:2 Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord ¹  descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 28:3 His ²  appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

John 2:11

2:11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ³  in Cana ⁴  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ⁵  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ⁶ 

John 2:19-20

2:19 Jesus replied, ⁷  “Destroy ⁸  this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” 2:20 Then the Jewish leaders ⁹  said to him, “This temple has been under construction ¹⁰  for forty-six years, ¹¹  and are you going to raise it up in three days?”

John 11:40

11:40 Jesus responded, ¹²  “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?”

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ¹³  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

¹ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. also 4:54 where the same construction occurs.

⁴ map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.

⁵ tn Grk “in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed.”

⁶ tn Or “his disciples trusted in him,” or “his disciples put their faith in him.”

⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

⁸ tn The imperative here is really more than a simple conditional imperative (= “if you destroy”); its semantic force here is more like the ironical imperative found in the prophets (Amos 4:4, Isa 8:9) = “Go ahead and do this and see what happens.”

⁹ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 18.

¹⁰ tn A close parallel to the aorist οἰκοδομήθη (oikodomhqh) can be found in Ezra 5:16 (LXX), where it is clear from the following verb that the construction had not yet been completed. Thus the phrase has been translated “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years.” Some, however, see the term ναός (naos) here as referring only to the sanctuary and the aorist verb as consummative, so that the meaning would be “this temple was built forty-six years ago” (so ExSyn 560-61). Ultimately in context the logic of the authorities’ reply appears to fit more naturally if it compares length of time for original construction with length of time to reconstruct it.

¹¹ sn According to Josephus (Ant. 15.11.1 [15.380]), work on this temple was begun in the 18th year of Herod the Great’s reign, which would have been ca. 19 b.c. (The reference in the Ant. is probably more accurate than the date given in J. W. 1.21.1 [1.401]). Forty-six years later would be around the Passover of a.d. 27/28.

¹² tn Grk “Jesus said to her.”

¹³ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.